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Interesting documentary on Prohibition. The Prohibition era in the United States lasted from 1920 through 1933. Although the intent of the Volstead Act was noble, the prohibition of alcohol only served to make rich men out of the criminals who catered to the public's desire for intoxicants. Tags:ProhibitionAdded: 2nd October 2007Views: 1861Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

One of the most tragic figures in movie history was Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle. A onetime cabaret singer, Arbuckle was among the most popular actors in silent comedies from 1914 to 1921. Starting as an extra at Keystone Studios, the surprisingly nimble Arbuckle quickly graduated to starring roles in the studio's slapstick comedy films where he was noted for his terrific accuracy in throwing pies and other missiles. Later, like Charlie Chaplin, Arbuckle matured as a performer, adding brilliantly subtle aspects to his comedy routines. A box-office favorite, he was making a seven-figure salary at Paramount Pictures in 1921. Midway through that year Arbuckle was so popular that he was put to work on three feature comedy films simultaneously! Shortly after completing them, Arbuckle's career abruptly ended in scandal. He was accused of sexually assaulting small-time actress Virginia Rappe at a party he was hosting in a suite at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on Labor Day 1921. Rappe died four days later in a maternity hosptal of peritonitis from a ruptured bladder, presumably caused by the 266-pound Arbuckle forcing himself on her. (There was also an apocryphal story of Rappe being raped with a champagne or cola bottle. How this slanderous story started is anyone's guess.) Rappe had become violently ill and irrational at the party. Arbuckle and several partygoers tried to succor Rappe and eventually moved her to another hotel room where she was examined by three different doctors over the next three days. A postmortem on Rappe's body found no signs of sexual assault whatsoever. In all likelihood Rappe death's was due to medical negligence or malpractice. Moreover, Rappe was hardly the virginal victim that the popular press and D.A.'s office portrayed her to be. The mistress of director Henry Lehrman, Rappe had had at least four abortions by the time she was 16, she had an out-of-wedlock child that she had abandoned, and she was afflicted with gonorrhea. In the summer of 1921 the 26-year-old Rappe, who hadn't had an acting job in two years, recently underwent another illegal abortion. Rappe was also suffering from a chronic illness that was exacerbated by her taste for poor-quality Prohibition booze. The accusations against Arbuckle were based solely on a malicious complaint fabricated by party attendee Maude Delmont, a known extortionist who claimed to be a "lifelong friend" of Rappe's--but had only known Rappe for two days prior to the Labor Day party. Arbuckle was astounded when a horde of reporters descended upon his Hollywood mansion to tell him he was being investigated for rape and possible murder charges in Rappe's death. Beginning in late September, Arbuckle was tried three times for rape and manslaughter in the space of seven months. He spent $700,000 on legal fees to beat the bogus charges. The prosecution's case was absurdly weak and should have been dropped. In fact, complainant Delmont was never called as a witness because her wild story of Arbuckle assaulting Rappe for an hour did not jibe with the physical evidence nor the timeline of events at the party. Nevertheless, the San Francisco D.A.'s office doggedly pursued the charges against Arbuckle because of intense pressure by reformers and moralists. The first two trials resulted in hung juries. At the first trial, Arbuckle fared terrifically when he eagerly took the stand to defend himself. It ended with the jury voting 10-2 in favor of acquittal. One stubborn holdout was a militant feminist so determined to convict Arbuckle that she refused to read any portions of the trial's transcript or listen to other jurors' opinions--to the point of childishly putting her hands over her ears! The second trial, in which Arbuckle's legal team badly advised him not to bother to take the stand because his innocence was obvious, was surprisingly 9-3 in favor of conviction! At the third trial, in April 1922, Arbuckle wisely took the stand. The jury deliberated for a mere six minutes before returning with a not guilty verdict that was loudly cheered by the gallery. Furthermore, the jury also insisted a formal apology to Arbuckle be read into the trials' official transcript. Film historians generally believe Arbuckle was totally innocent of any wrongdoing and was the victim of malicious prosecution. Nevertheless, his acting career abruptly ended because newly appointed Hollywood censorship czar Will Hays banned distributors from showing any Arbuckle comedies despite being acquitted! Although filmdom was deprived of a master comic's work, Arbuckle stayed in movies by directing films under an assumed name. He was just beginning to make an acting comeback--with six two-reel comedie--when died of heart failure in 1933 at age 46. According to Arbuckle biographer David A. Yallop, in an era when Hollywood stars routinely engaged in all sorts of debauchery, Roscoe, ironically, "was probably the most chaste man in Hollywood." Tags:RoscoeFattyArbucklescandal1921Added: 16th November 2007Views: 2120Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

Here's a group of obviously disgruntled women. Between 1830 and 1840, most temperance organizations began to argue that the only way to prevent drunkenness was to eliminate the consumption of alcohol. The Temperance Society became the Abstinence Society. The Independent Order of Good Templars, the Sons of Temperance, the Templars of Honor and Temperance, the Anti-Saloon League, the National Prohibition Party and other groups were formed and grew rapidly. With the passage of time, "The temperance societies became more and more extreme in the measures they championed.
"He who does not love wine, wife, and song will be a fool his whole life long" — a vigorous 1873 assertion of cultural values of German-American immigrantsWhile it began by advocating the temperate or moderate use of alcohol, the movement now insisted that no one should be permitted to drink any alcohol in any quantity. It did so with religious fervor and increasing convictions.
Tags:womenstemperanceleaguesalcohol1800sAdded: 7th April 2008Views: 1271Rating:Posted By:Naomi

The Chicago Teddy Bears was a short-lived CBS sitcom that debuted as part of the network's fall lineup in 1971. The Prohibition-era comedy was set at Linc & Latzi's Speakeasy in Chicago. Dean Jones played Linc McCray. John Banner (from the recently cancelled Hogan's Heroes) was lovable Uncle Latzi, Linc's partner. Because The Chicago Teddy Bears was a sitcom, there was no overt mob-related violence shown on the screen. It was only vaguely referenced. The show was yanked after just 13 episodes due to poor ratings. Here's the opening sequence. Tags:ChicagoTeddyBearssitcomCBSAdded: 5th April 2014Views: 744Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

In 1873 American postmaster John Creswell introduced the first pre-stamped penny postcards. These first postcards depicted the Interstate Industrial Exposition that took place in Chicago that year. The postcards were made because people were looking for an easier way to send quick notes. They were an instant hit with the public. The first postcard to be printed as a souvenir in the United States was created in 1893 to advertise the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Post Office was the only establishment allowed to print postcards, and it held its monopoly until May 19, 1898, when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act which allowed private publishers and printers to produce postcards. Initially, the United States government prohibited private companies from calling their cards 'postcards,' so they were instead known as 'souvenir cards.' To adhere to the law, these cards had to be labeled 'Private Mailing Cards.' This prohibition was finally rescinded in December 24, 1901 when private companies could legally use the word 'postcard' as they pleased. The golden age of American postcards lasted until 1915. In 1908 alone, more than 677 million postcards were mailed in the United States. Below is a sample from 1905. Tags:pennypostcardsAdded: 1st November 2010Views: 1284Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

On January 16, 1919, the required 36 out of 48 states had ratified the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The result: Prohibition would come into effect a year later. A newspaper of the day heralds the news. In 1933, America's great social experiment ended when Twenty-First Amendment rescinded the Eighteenth Amendment. Tags:ProhibitionlegislationAdded: 12th February 2011Views: 2148Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

In 2000, a new political party was established in Canada--the Marijuana Party. The ultimate in one-issue parties, the Marijuana Party was established solely to end Canada's prohibition on cannabis. It has no formal platform on any other issue. In the 2000 Canadian federal election, the Marijuana Party ran candidates in 73 ridings, and received more than 66,000 votes. (That was about 2 percent of the overall vote total in those ridings.) In the three subsequent federal elections since 2000, the Marijuana Party fielded progressively fewer and fewer candidates each time. In 2008, only eight ridings featured Marijuana Party candidates. That year the party's biggest accomplishment was a fourth-place finish in the far north riding of Nunavut, where the Marijuana Party candidate finished ahead of the Green Party candidate. Tags:MarijuanaPartyCanadapoliticsAdded: 18th March 2011Views: 1299Rating:Posted By:Lava1964